Right on the Money: me on the BBC!

Back in June I had a call from the BBC asking if I would like to take part in a new live show about saving money – they wanted to come and film with me for a day, set me a prize-winning challenge and then get me up to their Manchester studios.

Hell yes! Appearing on TV was just the incentive I needed to finally finish off my ‘SuperLucky Secrets’ book and get it online! I recorded the live show yesterday and you can watch my appearance on ‘Right on the Money Live’ right here:

The prize-winning challenge

Back in June the BBC gave me the surprise challenge to win three specific items:

• a camera
• a weekend away
• a makeover

As all compers know, it’s actually quite difficult to win on demand in a tight timescale, so I got to work quickly and found plenty of comps ending on 30th June by searching for the keywords weekend, hotel, stay, camera, hair and makeover on the Money Saving Expert comping forum, Loquax, ThePrizeFinder and in Compers News magazine. Next I did some googling (see my tips here) and found lots more on the web – they were all easy prize draws, so I knew they would get plenty of entries but did them anyway, using RoboForm to fill forms speedily.

Then I turned on the radio and started flicking through the channels – Heart, Absolute, Classic, Smooth – all these stations give away weekend breaks and holidays. I hit gold when I heard the DJ on Magic FM mention the following week they were giving away a weekend break every day from 3pm. On the Monday I called up as soon as they started talking about the competition – even though I had no idea what the answer to the question was – “Who played Dallas in Magic Mike?” – but thought if I got on air I could google it. I rang on two handsets for a better chance of getting answered, and got through immediately. While I was on hold I checked IMDB and got the answer I needed – Matthew McConaughy. Bingo! I won a girls weekend away for 3 of us with travel, hotel, meals, and a night at the cinema with VIP tickets and wine!

The camera proved more difficult. I actually won an expensive Olympus Camera in April after doing a targeted Google search, but there weren’t as many comps around this time. I found a couple of low entry photo comps with @nationaltrust and @vodafoneUK and rushed to get my entries in on the closing date, with no luck.

@nationaltrust #ThankYouNature for creating Devils Dyke, our favourite spot for a walk! pic.twitter.com/nhb1siYnu6

— Di Coke (@SuperLuckyDi) June 30, 2015

@VodafoneUK #getoutthere and enjoy the sunshine! ☀️ pic.twitter.com/MwS232JX9J — Di Coke (@SuperLuckyDi) June 30, 2015

However – whilst searching for keywords like camera, Fuji, polaroid and Kodak I came across a Twitter prize draw to win a digital photography course – this was a prize on my wishlist! I was delighted to win a place on the £99 course with Photography for Parents. As for the camera, I still have hopes for a few of the comps I’ve entered that haven’t closed yet… I’ll keep you informed if I get lucky!

For the makeover I started by looking in national hair magazines in the shops. Even though they’re national, the comps inside are generally for specific local salons. I found a great one in HAIR to win a Brighton hair makeover, and posted off my entry on a fun postcard (that one only closed last week so I still have my fingers crossed). Next, a Twitter search – this threw up the perfect prize of a makeover at the Iver Academy in London. All I had to do was find and photograph their new poster in a London Tube station. Despite three trips into London this month, I’ve still not tracked it down! There’s not been a single entry yet for this one, so if you spot the poster in London then get tweeting to @iveracademy!

Share your photo of one of our #IverAcademy posters in #London‘s tube stations for the chance to #win a makeover! pic.twitter.com/2XyIqIV6HR

— Iver Academy (@iveracademy) July 2, 2015

Next I started looking on Google for local hair and beauty salons in Brighton and Hove, and followed each one on Twitter and Liked them on Facebook. On the Match Nails page I saw they had teamed up with Juice Brighton to give away a choice of treatment every day for a week! You simply had to identify a pair of famous feet and post the answer on Facebook. I entered every day and won on day three when I guessed ‘The Hobbit’ (remember to check your answer rather than copying everyone else – if you reverse googled the photo you’d see it was the Hobbit!). There were only a few correct entries that day and I won, so I opted for a manicure. Or a ‘hand makeover’ as I like to call it!

So – I wasn’t entirely successful, but alongside those wins in the last month I have managed a Kenwood blender, bottle of champagne, bouquet of flowers, hamper from the local deli, VIP Evian gift bag, Biscuiteers tennis biscuits, Lonely Planet book, Pink n Whites mug and apron, family voucher for a local soft play centre, a garden games set, and a huge box of footballs, bags, bibs and cones from MatchAttax. Of course, sometimes it takes promoters months to contact winners so you never know, I could still bag that prize camera!

I should also add that this last month has probably been my busiest ever, publishing two books (Blog Giveaways and SuperLucky Secrets) as well as running competitions with several magazines and companies plus presenting at a huge London bloggers conference – I haven’t actually had much time to spend comping! I’m definitely hoping to take some time out for creative comping with Ryland over the summer though.

I hope you enjoyed my TV appearance, and if you do want to read more of my tips you can buy your copy of SuperLucky Secrets right here!